Hi! well, I talked to the principal this morning and showed him the e-mail I received. He said since it was anonymous that he won't take it seriously. I laso told him about the phone calls and he said he would talk to the past president. He also said that he did not know we sent the ballots home and that that was not a proper way to handle it. He told me that he thinks he is going to have an open poll from 5-7 p.m. on the date of our May PTO meeting. He will send home flyers and notes telling the parents to be there. I hope that works!! Cub Scouts meets the same night and that group is not happy with the current president at all. She refused to sponser them this year on the advice of the past president, regardless of the fact that we have sponsered them for the past 2 years. Also my husband is the chairperson of the cub scouts!! I hope this works out alright!!

sorry, just thought of something else also, didn't catch the he above the first time. when you approach the principal have a petition or multiple emails or tell him to listen to his message machine. do you have a way to get in touch with a large number of parents that may also be concerned about this? try to get them to sign on to it by monday or send him emails or phone messages by monday. it would certainly show the concern in a way that the board couldn't dispute. [img]smile.gif[/img]

seems to me since none of the guidelines in your bylaws was followed you should go to the principal and ask that he/she have the envelopes returned to him/her. once all the envelopes are turned in then he/she could appoint a group to count or count him/herself. i would have a list with all the student family names and mark the vote as each envelope is counted so you can backtrack and count votes as well as envelopes so none are missed. tedious yes but well worth it if there is so much amiss. this would of course be subject to your trust in the principal. And the people who count should not be current pto board members or any of those to be elected. teachers would be a good choice since they are part of the pto afterall. good luck! [img]smile.gif[/img]

Perhaps I was unclear, I apologize. We have this in our by-laws:ARTICLE VI-Section2-A)Nominations for officers shall be made from the ******Elementary School district. The nominees must either be a member or become a member by the day of the elections to be eligible to serve. Those members shall be elected by popular vote via secret ballot of active members during the month of April. B)Only those who have consented to serve if elected shall be eligible for nomination.C)There shall be a nominating committee consisting of 3 to 5 members, one of whom shall be selected by the executive board(DIDN'T HAPPEN)from it's body, and the balance elected by the organization at a regular meeting prior to December 1st.(DIDN'T HAPPEN)This nominating committee shall select it's own chairperson immediatly following their election(DIDN'T HAPPEN)D)The nominating committee shall nominate one or more eligible persons for each office to be filled and report it's nominees at the regular meeting in March(DIDN'T HAPPEN). E) Following the report of the nominating committee, an opportunity shall be given for nominations from the floor.
thats it!! nothing about the counting of the ballots or even how they should be voted on. It doesn't state whether a vote takes place at the meeting or if a special place would be set up or if the ballots go home with the kids. I am so lost!! I just received an e-mail from an "undisclosed" person stating that the election 3 years ago was rigged and that the person in charge made copies and voted many many times. This person also said that she plans on sifting through the ballots this year and giving mostly all of the current presidents votes and "losing" most of my votes. I am bringing this e-mail to the principal on Monday and hopefully he will stop the ballots that she made from going out. Making different ones would be best don't you think? I don't want to start a scandal within the school, but I want this to be run fairly and without incidence.

Bring it to the membership about the election process and the potential for errors and questionable things that COULD ARISE..You don't want to accuse anybody--Just simply state that the potential for a future problem is there and oput a motion out to revise the bylaws for the election process. Start with the nominating committee when it will be chosen (State month in the bylaws) 2) How many people will be on hte nominating commitee from the Executive Board and how many from general membership. (The total should equal an odd #)..3) The nominating committee once selected chooses amongst themselves who will be the chairperson. 4) When will the nominee committee present its slate of recommendadtions to membership (have this month stated in bylaws also). 5) They should send out to the membership, and officers a form that gives everyone the opportunity to put down their recommendations. It should also state on this letter that if someone would like to run for a position they should state their intent in writing before a certain date. This should alos be posted in the school and your newsletter.
Now the election process.
Start with election is held in month of ______. The nominee committee will present its slate of recommended officers at the election meeting.
Additional nominees may be nominated from the floor if none then the recommended person gets the jobs.
In the case of 2 or more people going for 1 postion then a ballot vote will be done during the election only. Only members present during the election will be eligible to vote.
we also have it stated in our bylaws that you need to be present in order to be nominated or elected to a position unless you send in a letter during the election advising that if elected to (Must list specific position) you will accept the position). this letter is filed with the offical records. As far as counting ballot i listed how that is done by our unit in a previuos response to this post..
I hope it helps
You want to stand on the issue that their is a potential for abuse, and to call into question how something was done. you want to eliminate anyone from being put into a position that they have to defend themselves against such allegations, becuase remember we are parents who have children in the school and we do not want children to bare any embarrassment for the actions of parents.

The other part of the problem is that we have nothing in the by-laws as to how the actual ballots are recorded or received. It just states that we have to vote on a committee before the general meeting in December(that didn't happen) and also that the committee then choses a chairperson(that didn't happen). Basically, I voted on the current president and current treasurer being on the committee, but then they decided to run again, because they "have nothing else to do" and just decided to make the past president chairperson and assigned their own committee. I have decided to go to the principal on Monday before school. They come in EVERY day at 8:20 a.m. I am pretty sure that they want to send out the ballots on Monday. I hope I can convince him that the ballots shouldn't go out until there is a definate way to make sure they can't be tampered with upon their return. Like maybe having a smaller envelope inside the larger one for them to seal their ballots into and giving them to the teachers. If the teachers can put them into a larger envelope, seal it and hand it to the pricipal at the end of the day to count, that would be great. I just hope that I can convince him!! Wish me luck!! Anything you can add to help me with convince this man,mind you it is his first year at our school, would be deeply appreciated!!
-Debby